Today we enjoyed finding a piece that navigates the reality of the coming of the robots and what that may mean for work – and the people who do it. It’s hard to find clear thinking on this topic so we recommend this one.

image: iwouldificould via Flickr/CC

As part of the great collective cultural effort to sum it all up in the prelude to the Millennium we at this blog certainly remember Joel Garreau’s book Edge City: Life On the New Frontier with an affectionate sense of its importance. It certainly remains recommended reading for anyone trying to understand North American community building. It’s a layered pleasure then to come across a long feature on Citylab that checks in with Garreau on where cities, edge and otherwise, are a quarter century on from his popular opus.

image: mr. smashy via Flickr/CC

A series in Slate does the job working over the downward tilt in fortune for American suburban living. Worth a visit. I suppose we Ontarians are looking to protect ourselves from this kind of socioeconomic illness how?
By electing Doug Ford premier?

image: NASA via Flickr/CC

Interesting in a not-very-nice way: Finns discover their relationship to the national poverty line can be directly related to their transportation options. The further from work the lower the income. With its winter weather and not dissimilar economy Canadians might like to note the ongoing work cited in this article. As in Toronto and Atlanta, so in Helsinki?

image: author

Ontario’s basic income pilot has begun to produce some observations and anecdotes. A thorough, high level analysis will need to be done at the conclusion of the three-year, three-community trial but expectations are high. The pilot project is not quite a full-on basic income, more of a test apparatus designed to gather evidence of what actually happens in the lives of a recipient.

Yes, there is still a fair bit of naysaying and skepticism out there. Some of it from surprising directions like a major anti-poverty activist here in Ontario and from union figures. Another hurdle may be the upcoming provincial election. All kinds of right wing critters and neoliberal reactionaries are looking for power, for gravy trains to stop, as it were. The pilot project may be an early target in the election and for whoever gets into the premier’s office. In the meantime, words from the participants are appropriate.

Do corporate officers really need us to hand them $200m worth of deductions for their entertainment expenses every year? Nope. And that’s just for starters, a handful of loopholes are costing the public vast sums.